Day 8: Leprosy Colonies.

I was so excited to finally have another colony day!

My last colony day was so special, I have been looking forward to this one ever since.  We were able to leave a little later since the colony was closer than the others that we have been to! 

We drove literally THROUGH the jungle. It was AMAZING!!

I love it here. It is so beautiful, it's too bad that it gets so filthy in the villages with so much trash everywhere because this is literally one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

I took this picture of one of the few "mountains" I have seen. 

All of the adults from here keep asking if we really have big mountains in Utah.

Yes we do, and I miss them lol.

(Also the building in this picture just so happens to be a Rising Star construction site. Cool.)

Off-roading now into the jungle to reach the colony.

I just love the scenery here.

We finally reached the colony.  This one was huge! It was literally a small city, tucked away in the jungle.  I learned today that if you get leprosy, all of your future generations are seen as cursed as well.  This means that if your grandparents get leprosy, even if you don't have it you still must live in the colonies and are unable to attend a public school or get a job.  My heart really goes out to those with leprosy, but now it reaches out even to those parents and children who are fully capable, healthy, smart individuals that are shunned by society because of a disease they do not even have.

A small temple across the street from where we would be giving treatments.

We already had a group of patients gathered here waiting for us to arrive.

This community center was donated and built for the leprosy afflicted patients.

I love seeing these little acts of kindness and have hope that what we are doing really will lift the curse of leprosy in the near future.

The village.

Setting up inside the center.

My first station was bandaging.

You may have to come back over the next couple of days and scan this post for new pictures and video. I had to hunt down all of the members of my group for photos taken throughout the day.  I was very busy bandaging and administering treatments so I wasn't able to take many pictures inside the medical clinic.  This lady was such a diva, I loved her!! She kept telling the doctor and I what to do. Hahaha I love their beautiful, strong, happy personalities.  If you just knew these people and their personalities you would never guess that they were dealing with leprosy.

She was wincing pretty bad as we were cutting out her ulcers.  In India they are VERY big on not showing emotion.  It is shameful to cry or show pain.  It is so humbling to watch these patients with NO numbing medication just sit there and let the doctor dig into their flesh and get out all of the infection.  I just wanted her to cry on my shoulder, to acknowledge the pain that she was feeling.  She was so strong.  It was AMAZING, I honestly am so amazed at these people.  It makes me so grateful for all of the doctors and clean facilities we have in America.

I had one lady with EXTREMELY bad ulcer's and open sores.  She was hiding her face in her sawree and I could hear her trying to muffle her sobs. It broke my heart to know that she could feel everything that the nurse was doing.  I cannot imagine what they go through on a daily basis. I just kept rubbing her arm and she was squeezing my hand so tight.  It's experiences like this that really are life changing.  To see so many people living their lives in so much pain is so humbling.  I am almost nervous to come back to America, because I don't know how I will react now when my friends and family tell me about their "huge" problems and daily drama. (I do it too, we all do.)  There are such bigger problems in the world than an annoying co worker, or an ex boyfriend.  I don't mean to get all "there are starving kids in Africa" on you... but for reals. I am just so grateful for EVERYTHING I have, especially my health, and I have a whole new perspective on life.

My next station was eye drops.  The nurse wanted me to write the patients names as well as administer the eye drops.  I'm not gonna lie, I was terrified at the thought of attempting to spell their names.  I can't even say them, let alone write them down.  Haha poor Anund, (our driver) I literally called him over on EVERY patient to help me write down their names. Hopefully when you click on the picture it will get large enough to the point that you can read them so you can see what kind of names I'm dealing with here. lol Beautiful names, buuut VERY different, and they speak so fast! I can't tell the difference between a Gharnesh or Karthish or KiranRaj lol they all sound the same to me until I see it on paper.

I had, without a doubt, one of the greatest and most spiritual experiences of my life today.  I wish I had the picture, but I am not sure whose camera it is on so I will have to do my best to describe it until I can find who took the picture.  Okay so I was administering eye drops at my second station.  Leprosy, first begins to attack the nerves in the eyes, eyelids, nose, cheeks and other soft tissue areas.  This means that the majority of leprosy patients go blind or nearly blind very quickly.  We administered medicated eye drops to them that are able to help slow this process and begin to heal the eye and keep them moisturized.  I was giving drops to a blind man.  He had small nubs for feet and used crutches to get around.  His eyelids were almost completely gone so when he blinks or shuts his eyes they did not close completely.  This causes bacteria to stay in the eye instead of being cleaned away by natural tears and out of the tear ducts, his eyes were very infected.  He had pretty bad cataracts in one eye and it was very milky.  The other was open and piercing but unfocused.  It wasn't easy for him to get around or stabilize himself so he was holding on to me and Anund for balance.  The patients have to tip their heads back completely and keep their eyes open and staring up (in to the back of their heads if they can, but most can no longer control the muscles in the eye) until the eye drops have covered the entire eye and dried so that they don't just leak out as they come back up.  Anyways, this man had his head tilted back in my chair, holding on for balance as I administered the drops.  He was completely blind, but both eyes, I felt like were literally piercing my soul. I stared into his eyes and I knew that we connected.  To see this man, so humble in his chair staring up into my soul and truly needing and being so appreciative of my help is forever imprinted on my brain.  I will never forget this man.  Words cannot describe what I felt.  It is so simple, the act of putting eye drops into someones eyes, but to this man it means the difference between horrible pain, infection, and discomfort, and a small amount of relief.  I feel like I did so little for this man, but the way he thanked me, and tried to communicate with me, and the moment that we shared, tells me that for him it meant so much. I don't think these people realize that they are helping me just as much as I am helping them, if not more. The whole time I was at the eye station I kept singing, in my head, the song "Have you received his image in your countenance, does the light of Christ shine in your eyes, will he know you when he comes again, because you will be like him, when he sees you will The Father know his child?" Maybe some of you have heard it.  Anyways, this song, to me, describes my experience in India better than my words ever could.  You really see the light in their eyes.  It has changed me.  I hope that I can take a piece of this home with me.  The love these people have.  The humble and beautiful souls I have met here will live with me forever.

This man, oh my, I honestly just don't know if I could write a post long enough to describe all of the beautiful people and experiences I encountered today.  In this post I think I share about 3-4.  We saw about 25-30 patients and EVERY SINGLE ONE has an amazing story just like this to go with it.  Anyways, this man, we went through the stations, washed and oiled his feet, cut out his ulcers redressed his wounds and got his medicine and eye drops.  After I administered the drops he had me help him over to the middle of the room and then sat, smack dab in the middle, of the clinic.  His wife was also being treated but was much further back in the line.  I just wanted to give him a hug, to stay with him, to sit with him.  I did for as long as I could. I would put my hand on his arm or his knee as he sat indian style.  I rubbed my hand over his back for a short time and he just kept whispering "thank you, thank you, hallelujah, thank you." I had to go back to my station to give drops to other patients and Amy the medical advisor took over.  She sat with him for nearly 20 minutes.  It was just one of those moments that you could just tell, he needed a hug, he needed to be loved, he needed to feel someone touch him and put an arm around his shoulders.  This man was almost completely blind.  He sat in silence most of the time and every once in a while you would see one tear fall down his face.  It just breaks my heart to know that when we leave for the day these people go back to their normal lives, and it hurts me so much to think about what that must be like.  I have so much love for this man.  I hope that we were able to bring him happiness, even just for the short time that we were there.  

I wish so badly that more people would reach out to those afflicted with leprosy.  They need to be loved too, everyone needs a friend, everyone needs someone to tell them that everything is gonna be alright. I have thought about that man several times since we left the colony and I have a feeling he will be in my prayers, always.

This man was so cute with his hands up in prayer saying "Thank You, Thank You."

It is so good to feel that these people truly appreciate what we are doing for them. 

I have loved serving these people, I honestly wish I could live here and do this all day, every day.

What a fulfilling life, to lose yourself in service.

After we had finished administering treatment to all of those that needed it, we went over to that Hindu temple across the street. (Pictured above at the top of this post)  There were many people out here that had leprosy that we didn't see inside, this man pictured below kept telling us about how his teeth hurt so bad and he wanted to get them all pulled but he was afraid of the doctor.  We talked him into going inside and he didnt have to get ANY of his teeth pulled, we were just able to give him some antibiotics to correct the problem.  There were many more though, that would not go inside and get their ulcers cleaned and dressed because they were afraid of the doctor.  They knew what a painful procedure it was, and with no pain medication.  I wish so bad I could have dragged/forced/pulled a few of the patients in with very severe ulcers, but they just wouldn't go.  We tried to tell them that it would be painful now, but then the ulcers could heal and go away, but there was no getting through to them.  That broke my heart, to know that we could have helped them and they just were too afraid to accept a small amount of pain or discomfort that would lead to healing.

We had a dance party in front of the temple. Shawn busted out his laptop, put on some Bollywood, and we tried to get everyone involved.

Many of them were too overwhelmed to participate, but we were able to get a few to join us in simple arm and leg movements.  These men were so adorable.  At one point everyone was laughing SO hard and having such a good time.  

All of these moments are so bittersweet.  On one hand, it puts the biggest smile on my face to see these people laughing and having a ball.  Literally laughing so hard they were crying, and joining in on our dancing and having fun.  On the other hand, you can't help but think, when was the last time they laughed like this? When was the last time they did something just for fun?  Many of them don't have feet, legs, hands and are in A LOT of pain, and to see them laughing gives you such an overwhelming sense of love, and happiness.

What the Rising Star Outreach program is doing here is so amazing. 

I feel so blessed to be a part of it.

I look forward to many many visits and experiences in the future.

This charity holds such a special place in my heart,

 it has since the very first time I heard about it, over a year ago.

This mother wanted me to take a picture with her child so bad,

he was having NO part in this. lol. 

Awkward.  ..but he is ADORABLE!

I just love this photo.

Grandfather and grandson sitting near the temple.

I dare you to look this city up on the map and see where I am.

Near Chennai, in the "state" of Tamil Nadu.

We finished a little early, so we decided to go visit one of the 

largest hindu "Mother God" temples being built in the area.  

This is not the temple, but another small temple near the one we were going to see.

This was the temple that we came to see. It is still under construction.  It is supposed to be the biggest temple in India by the time it is finished.  It was AMAZING to learn about Hindu culture and beliefs and here all of the different legends about this God.  

I would love to take a world religion class when I get home and learn about all of the religions of the world.  There are SOO many religions out here.  It is mainly Hindu and Christian.

We were not allowed to take pictures from on the grounds.  

This is a VERY zoomed in picture that I snuck from on the bus. 

Another picture from the bus.

A small temple to worship the Elephant God.

Literally in the middle of the jungle.

I wish I would have gotten pictures of the cool village people that we asked for directions.

I think I was still in awe at the fact they were wearing nothing but loin cloths, 

and looked like Mowgli from the Jungle Book.

I spy in this picture A WHOLE GANG OF MONKEYS!

You probably can't see them because they blend in pretty well and it was from kind of far away.

We threw biscuits from the bus trying to get them to come closer.

There were about 10 of them.

All of them ran away once we started throwing stuff, except this one.

Smart monkey! Made off with a whole bag of biscuits.

Just some jungle scenery from the drive home.

The cutest little monkeys that we found in the village on our drive home.

We stopped and fed them trail mix our the bus windows.

They were the cutest little things.

Look there's more!

Once they learned we had food, they were coming right up to the bus!

A truck was tipped over near the Rising Star campus.

There was no one inside, but it wasn't there this morning when we left.

I hope they are ok out there somewhere.

We were able to stop at the Junction on the way home.

Got some ice cold Cokes for Sam, Krissy, and Myself for dinner. 

They are gonna LOVE me!!

Also got more souvenirs, and henna!

Once we got back to the school I had to hurry and run over to play time and life dance!

I need to learn this adorable little girls name.

She follows me everywhere and I have so many pictures with her.

I'm on it, I will let you know as soon as I know. haha.

Oh, for the first time I ate ALL of my dinner!! Rice, curry, fruit, I think I'm finally developing a taste for Indian food.  I loved dinner tonight. Yumm.  It felt like the first good meal I have had in a few days.  I feel like I have just been eating rabbit food.  So much trail mix and crystal light haha.

Family time was amazing as usual.

The boys LOOOOVE to play down by the banks, and I mean LOVE.

Like they want to play it for the entire hour that we are there.

We had a pretty funny girls night with all of our roomies haha.  We were up so late laughing, blogging, dancing, singing, eating junk food.  It was awesome.  We are so lucky to have awesome roommates.  I seriously have become great friends with all of them! 

This whole experience just gets better and better every day.  The only negative I have is that I am now halfway.  That means I am mentally counting down the days until I have to say goodbye to these kids and head back to "real life." I won't be able to look at America the same way. I have a feeling that when I get home I am just going to wish that I was not there, but that I was back over here.  I have made such strong connections with the people out here, with the kids.  I get sad at the thought of other volunteers taking my place; although, I am soo glad there are more people coming to continue where we left off. There is still so much to be done.  I am not ready to come home.  I am nervous to come home and get settled back into my busy day to day life.  I have loved being here and feeling so alive, like I am really doing something that matters.

Again, like I am in the right place, at the right time.